Immanuel

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Immanuel is a Hebrew name (עִמָּנוּ אֵל "God (is / be) with us"), which was originally the subject of a promise from the biblical prophet Isaiah ( Isa 7:14  EU ). In the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament , the name is placed in relation to Jesus Christ ( Mt 1.23  EU ).

The Latin-Greek form of the male given name is Emanuel .

Mention in the Bible

Prophet Isaiah

The name Immanuel appears three times in the book of the prophets of Isaiah. The entry passage Isa 7:14 is particularly significant:

“That is why the Lord will give you a sign of his own accord: Look, the virgin will conceive a child, she will give birth to a son and she will name him Immanuel.”

It is in Isaiah 7.14 to 17  EU a prophetic sign at the address of the Judean king Ahaz . According to this, a young woman is to give birth to a son named "With us (is) God" , who will not have reached moral maturity until the state of Judah has averted the extraordinary danger posed by its opponents Israel and Aram . The Hebrew text uses the word עַלְמָה (almah), which simply means "young woman", to designate the mother. Even the Greek translation of the Tanach , the Septuagint , uses the word παρθένος ( parthenos ), which initially only means "young woman", but has a tendency towards the meaning "virgin".

Because of the positive content of the name “God with us” , it is often assumed in exegesis that the name stands for the son of Ahaz, who later became king Hezekiah . This was actually able to defend the kingdom of Judah against the Assyrian domination.

At the other two places in Isaiah that mention the name Immanuel ( Isa 8,8.10  EU ), because of the associated negative statements, it seems to be a warning of calamity that the kingdom of Judah wants to protect from the Assyrian great power.

Whether the picture that Isaiah paints of the appearance of Immanuel belongs in an explicitly messianic context is disputed in exegetical research.

Gospel of Matthew

Matthew identifies Jesus in Mt 1.23  EU as the son with the name Immanuel promised in Isa 7:14 :

"You see, the virgin will conceive a child, she will give birth to a son, and he will be given the name Immanuel, which means: God is with us."

In Christianity, this passage is understood as evidence of Jesus' messiahship and his virgin birth (cf. also Lk 1.26–35  EU ). Like the Septuagint to Isa 7:14, the Greek text uses the word παρθένος. Where the Hebrew word almah only means a young, unmarried woman, parthenos can also denote a biological virginity.

Jesus is not referred to by the name Immanuel anywhere else in the New Testament . However, Mt 28:20 can be understood as an allusion to him when it says: "And see, I am with you [...]." (Mt 28.20 EÜ, rev. 2016)

Well-known namesake

First name

Surname

Church establishment

additional

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Immanuel  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Isa 7 : 14-17  EU
  2. ↑ a b Manfred Görg: Art. Immanuel. In: New Bible Lexicon. Volume II, Col. 227.
  3. ↑ a b c Thomas Wagner:  Immanuel. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.